Related Articles

If you have a sunny area of the garden with loose, rich soil, you can grow your own potatoes (Solanum tuberosum). Seed potatoes can be obtained from a neighbor's potato patch or purchased from garden centers. Within two weeks of your area's last average frost date, get your seed potatoes in the ground. As the plants grow, mound soil up around the foliage to support the plant and encourage tubers to form. If you keep the soil moist and mounded, your potatoes will thrive. For the highest yield and most flavorful potatoes, you'll need to harvest them at the correct time.

New Potatoes

New potatoes are the young tubers from a potato plant. These small potatoes have a softer skin than mature potatoes and need to be eaten soon after harvest since they don't store well. It typically takes about 10 weeks after planting for most potato varieties to produce tubers large enough to eat. If you lose count of how many weeks it's been since you planted, just watch your potato plant; when it blooms, it's ready for harvesting. Rather than dig out the entire plant, move soil aside carefully and remove only a few potatoes from each plant. The plants can then continue to grow to produce a fall crop of mature potatoes.

Mature Potatoes

Mature potatoes are harvested in the fall or early winter depending on your plants and the weather. Wait until all the foliage of the plant has withered and died back before harvesting mature potatoes. After the foliage has died, dig up a potato from one or two plants and rub the skin of the potato with your fingers. The skin of a potato that is ready for harvest won't scrub off easily. If the skin of your test potatoes does come off easily, wait a few more days and test a couple more potatoes.

Harvesting Practices

Once the foliage of your potatoes has died back, remove it as soon as possible from the potato bed. Potato foliage can harbor diseases that transfer to the tubers if they come in contact with the leaves. Also, harvest your potatoes when the weather has been dry for several days to help reduce the likelihood of spreading foliar disease. Dig and handle your potatoes carefully to avoid damaging the skin or bruising the tuber. If the skin does become damaged, set those potatoes aside and eat them within a few days of harvest.

Storing Potatoes

Properly stored mature potatoes can keep for several months. The first step of proper storage is to clean the potatoes by wiping away any dirt using a soft brush or cloth. Do not wash the potatoes. Next, leave the potatoes for two weeks in a dark location that stays between 45 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit. After two weeks, if any potatoes look withered or fee soft, discard them. Store the rest of the potatoes in a dark area that stays 35 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. If you keep apples, store them away from potatoes or your potatoes may sprout.

About the Author

Based in Portland, Ore., Tammie Painter has been writing garden, fitness, science and travel articles since 2008. Her articles have appeared in magazines such as "Herb Companion" and "Northwest Travel" and she is the author of six books. Painter earned her Bachelor of Science in biology from Portland State University.